The archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby. The issue of homosexuality has dominated the Anglican communion for more than 20 years.
Photograph: Ben Curtis/AP

The leaders of conservative Anglican churches have said they will “stand for the truth” at a critical global summit which has laid bare deep divisions within the worldwide Anglican communion over homosexuality.

At the end of a second day of talks, Justin Welby, the archbishop of Canterbry, was thought to be maintaining a fragile hold over the fractious gathering of 38 primates.

The 38 leaders are cloistered in the medieval crypt of Canterbury Cathedral this week after being summoned by Welby, in an attempt to move the Anglican communion beyond its paralysis over the issue of sexuality. Welby wants the communion, which has 85 million members worldwide, to focus on important issues such as religious violence and climate change.

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At the start of the second day of talks, Peter Jensen, the chair of Gafcon, an alliance of conservative Anglican churches deeply opposed to gay rights and same-sex marriage, released a video message saying: “The power of God is at work.”

He said supporters of Gafcon primates had emailed messages of encouragement, telling them “to stand for the truth, which is what they intend to do”. Such messages and prayers of support from around the world were crucial “when you’ve got to make a stand and exercise leadership”, he added.

Welby proposes that, in the face of intractable strife, the communion should refashion itself as a loose confederation of churches rather than being adherent to a common doctrine.

The Church of England anticipated that archbishops from six African countries – Uganda, Kenya, Nigeria, South Sudan, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo – would walk out in protest during the week-long talks.

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They and other members of Gafcon want Welby to impose sanctions on the Episcopal Church of America, which heightened the simmering conflict over homosexuality when it consecrated a gay priest, Gene Robinson, as bishop of New Hampshire in 2003.

A walkout could lead to a formal rather than de facto schism, with conservative churches around the world realigning under the authority of Gafcon. However, if the six leaders wish to formally detach their provinces from the Anglican communion, each needs to embark on a lengthy process authorised by their churches.

Many liberal Anglicans in the UK and elsewhere, horrified by the homophobic stance of conservative churches in sub-Saharan Africa, believe a split is inevitable and preferable to continued infighting and paralysis.

Welby is said to be phlegmatic about the prospect, believing he has done everything possible to offer the opportunity to forge a new, looser relationship, which hardliners may choose to reject.

In his opening address to the week-long meeting in Canterbury on Monday, Welby acknowledged tensions and divisions within the communion. “The reality is that a church such as the Anglican communion is such a mixture of histories, and of theological difference, that inevitably there will be deep differences and from time to time these will lead to grave crises, such as the one faced in recent years,” he said.

Referring to religious wars, climate change, globalisation, oppression and poverty, he said Christians needed “a body that is mutually supportive, that loves one another, that stoops to lift the fallen and kneels to bind the wounds of the injured”.

He added: “Our responsibility this week is therefore to be making the church more ready for action, as a body around the world.”

In a passage which acknowledged the anti-colonial backlash among African Christians, he said the history of Anglicanism “contains much sin … Often faith was the servant of Empire, and carried in its baggage racism, oppression, contempt for those they met … We need only look at the church colluding with the abuse of indigenous peoples to feel shame.”

The issue of homosexuality has dominated the Anglican communion for more than 20 years. C of E leaders acknowledge that it has fractured the communion, but believe a looser relationship of churches linked to Canterbury but not to each other is the only way to overcome institutional dysfunctionality.